A process of this type is, for example, required in the manufacture of bricks in which moldings made of an insulant material are inserted into cavities. Thus, DE 10 2006 002 826 A1 discloses a process of the type in question in which the moldings are formed with a volume greater than the volume of the cavities, preferably with a width and/or length greater than those of the cavities, so that the moldings are held in the cavities with frictional engagement (claim 1). The manner in which these moldings enter the cavities in an industrial production may not be inferred from said document.
The previously published DE 100 58 463 A1 discloses a brick which is distinguished in that the cavities of the brick are filled partly or completely with mineral wool.
DE 102 17 548 A1 also disclosed an apparatus and a machine which are distinguished in that the apparatus and the machine are used to introduce mineral wool into the cavities of extruded perforated bricks. Specifically, said document also claims that the apparatus and the machine cut off mineral wool cushions and mineral wool goods sold by the meter, press them together between two metal sheet-like bodies, insert them, while pressed together, into the cavities of extruded perforated bricks, and that the two metal sheet-like bodies are successively removed from the cavity, so that the mineral wool cushion is left behind in the cavity and sits there in a non-slip manner as a result of its internal stress.
However, both documents describe only the effect based on planned measures; they do not, however, contain specific exemplary embodiments for in-series filling of perforated bricks. DE 10 2006 034 073 A1 describes a further process for manufacturing a molded brick, in which at least some of the channels are filled out with pourable and/or blowable insulant particles made of mineral fibers with or without binder (claim 1). The corresponding apparatus for carrying out this process consists substantially in the fact that the insulin particles are blown in with the aid of baffle plates.
Furthermore, DE 10 2006 022 516 A1 proposes a process for manufacturing a molded brick with an at least partial filling made of an insulant material which has at least limited compressibility, in which the filling is in the form of moldings at least for some of the channels and the moldings are drawn into the channels (claim 1). As the apparatus for carrying out this process, it is substantially claimed that a gripping apparatus for receiving at least one molding is movable parallel to the channel in the molded brick relative to the bearing surface, the gripping apparatus having a push-out apparatus, which is movable relative to the longitudinal axis of the receptacle, for the molding (claim 90). This gives an idea as to how a molding can be brought into the channel of a molded brick and it is also stated that the gripping apparatus has two thin sheet metal elements which are connected to each other via a spring and the molding is moved in the direction of the surface normal of the bearing surface of the molded brick (claim 94) via hydraulically or pneumatically actuated pistons of a push-out apparatus and via reduced pressure (claim 109). However, DE 10 2006 022 516 A1 does not indicate how such a procedure of pushing out moldings is to proceed in the case of in-series filling of building blocks. Above all, the problem of moldings of different size, as is required in practice in the filling of molded blocks, is not addressed.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a process for rapidly and reliably filling structures with different cavities, in particular building blocks, which can be used in an ongoing production procedure.
This object is achieved by an apparatus according to claim 1 and a process according to claim 15 respectively.